Archive for
September 1st, 2011

From left, Paul Biane, Jim Erwin and Jeff Burum have their GPS ankle braclets removed Wednesday morning in the hallway of the San Bernardino Superior Court. A judge ordered the Colonies defendants’ electronic monitoring and travel restriction order be lifted. (Courtesy photos)

SAN BERNARDINO — A San Bernardino Superior Court judge on Wednesday lifted an electronic monitoring and travel restriction order for four defendants in a sweeping county corruption case, while prosecutors announced they are appealing the dismissal of some of the charges against the defendants.

The corruption prosecution of the San Bernardino County Four suffered a big setback recently when a judge ruled that approving a $102 million settlement in exchange for political contributions isn’t against the law.

Amazon.com is offering to build a number of distribution centers and hire more than 1,000 workers if California lawmakers back away — at least temporarily — from their efforts to force the Internet giant to collect sales taxes on purchases made by customers from the Golden State.

Bank of America Corp. has put another giant piece of the Countrywide mortgage empire on the auction block — the correspondent lending arm, which buys closed home loans from mortgage bankers, commercial banks and other loan originators.

The measure would allow college students who are illegal immigrants to receive public financial aid.

By Teresa Watanabe and Patrick McGreevy, Los Angeles Times September 1, 2011

The college dreams of thousands of students who are illegal immigrants moved closer to fulfillment Wednesday after the state Senate approved a bill that for the first time would give them access to public financial aid.